Following the circulation of photos of a privately chartered Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR) train recently on social media, residents across the Nilgiris and a few Members of Parliament from the State have voiced their disapproval of the “corporatisation” of the train service. However, the Salem Division of the Southern Railway has denied that the NMR services has been privatised.
The NMR services were stopped in March due to the COVID-19 lockdown and have not resumed for the public yet. However, on Saturday and Sunday, a restaurant chain, based out of Karamadai in Coimbatore district, operated the NMR train from Mettupalayam to Udhagamandalam as a two-way chartered service, advertising that the ticket fare was ₹ 3,000 for one way. In contrast, the first-class ticket for the regular NMR train services cost ₹ 600 and the second-class ticket cost ₹ 295, according to the revised fare announced by Salem Division that came into effect on March 1 this year.
The images of the chartered train bearing the private firm’s name as well as the advertisements for the ticket fare went viral on social media.
R. Ranjith, a resident of Udhagamandalam town, said the NMR was part of the Nilgiris’ heritage, and that pictures of the train being decked out with the branding of a private entity on the locomotive seemed completely out of place. “It gives the impression that the train is being handed over to a private entity to do what they deem fit, which is what has caused people to think that the NMR is on the road towards privatisation,” he said.
Founder of the Heritage Steam Chariot Trust, K. Natrajan agrees that the branding on the train was in poor taste. But, he said, he believed that there were no plans to privatise the NMR. “Enthusiasts like myself are in constant touch with the officials from the Southern Railway, all of whom have assured me that there are no such plans,” said Mr. Natrajan.
The private entity that chartered the train had been advised to remove the branding from the train, a request which they agreed to.
“The reports that the NMR is being privatised are certainly incorrect, and full tariff charter train services have been run in the past as well,” said Mr. Natrajan.
In a statement on Sunday, Coimbatore MP P.R. Natarajan accused the Southern Railway of handing over the NMR train to a private firm. On Monday, Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan also alleged in a Facebook post that this was part of the privatisation of various train services by Indian Railways. Southern Railway Mazdoor Union Divisional Secretary (Salem Division) M. Govindan on Tuesday questioned as to why the Southern Railway allowed a private firm to operate the train when it can resume the regular services. “This is a trial for privatisation,” he alleged.
The Salem Division of the Southern Railway issued a clarification on Sunday that the chartered special trains will not have “any bearing on the regular NMR services” and that the regular NMR services are yet to resume.
Officials from the Salem Division of Southern Railway denied that the train services were being privatised.
A Salem Division official from the NMR section told The Hindu on Tuesday that the private firm was charged around ₹ 4.9 lakh a trip as decided by the Southern Railway. The chartered train will have 13 trips from December 5 to January 3, 2021 operating mostly on weekends, out of which two trips have already been completed, he said.
Denying allegations of privatisation, he said that the NMR train have been operated as chartered trains previously, such as in December 2019 where a chartered NMR train was operated for foreign tourists. “We will only check complaints of overloading and whether there is any misuse of railway property,” the official said, as the private firm is allowed to have its own staff inside the train.
Another railway official on conditions of anonymity said that even if the Railway Board authorises resumption of NMR train services in the coming days, the chartered train services may continue.
Regarding the high ticket cost, he said that the Southern Railway cannot control the ticket fare in chartered train services. Rubbishing allegations of privatisation, the official said that the private party has only “hired” the NMR train on a “day-to-day basis” as the firm is required to pay in advance before each trip. Allegations of railway staff such as ticket checkers losing their jobs due to the chartered train are also false, according to the official.